The present invention relates to hunting or sporting arms and more particularly to a supplementary safety device for hunting or sporting arms with safety means that can be switched by means of a safety lever from a secure state to an activated state. The safety means can be either of the kind where in the secure state, the arm is cocked and the chain of action between the trigger and the cock or hammer is blocked at some point and where in the activated state this blocking is released, or of the kind where the arm is uncocked in the secure state and cocked in the activated state.
Handling of hunting or sporting arms always needs great care and circumspection. The trend to reduce trigger pull (from, say, 1,5 to 2 kg to as little as 200 to 300 grams) in order to increase accuracy of fire and reduce the cocking force has rendered such arms even more dangerous as only light shocks can lead to unintentional firing. The competent huntsman always handles the arm in the secure state and does not release the safety means or cock the arm until immediately before shooting. If, however, the arm is ready to fire and the huntsman's attention focussed on the game and he is distracted, he just might stop aiming, forget the state of the arm and handle the activated and ready-to-fire arm which can lead to inintentional firing. This danger cannot be averted by the most reliable of the known standard safety means because it only arises after their release. This "safety gap" can easily lead to grave consequences, and has often done so.
It is therefore the object of the invention to provide hunting or sporting arms with a supplementary safety device which reliably avoids such accidents by unintentional firing after the safety means of the arm has been released or the arm has been cocked.
It is a further object of the invention to provide hunting or sporting arms with a supplementary safety device against unintentional firing which involves a minimum of modifications of the arm concerned, and which is light in weight, small in bulk, and cheap to add to a known arm.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide arms with a safety lock blocking any of the elements of the effective chain trigger body - trigger sear - trigger arm - trigger link - hammer or cock with a supplementary safety device of the above mentioned character.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide arms with a separate exchangeable triggering mechanism as for example used in repeating arms with a supplementary safety device of the above mentioned character.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide arms with a cocking slide for activating the gun before shooting, usually hunting guns with a breach lock and one or more barrels, with a supplementary safety device of the above mentioned character.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent during a study of the detailed description.